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'NOTES 



WILLSOFS READERS. 



S. S. HALDEMAN 






To fclander you Is no thing min entent, 

But to correcten that is mis, I ment. — Chaucer. 



t/> 1864 



BY THE SAME AWTHOB, 

FRESHWATER UNIVALVE MOLLUSCA. 

8 NUMBERS, 38 COLORED COPPER PLATES. 
Now rare and can ssldom be furnished. S30. 



MONOGRAPHIE DU GENRE LePTOXYS, 
Paris, 184". Folio, plates. 

Cryptocephalinarum Boreali-Americae diagnoses, cum 
speciebus novis musei Lecontiani. 1849. 

Elements of Latin Pronunciation. 

J. B. Lippincott & Co. Philadelphia. 1851. 

ANALYTIC ORTHOGRAPHY; 

AN INVESTIGATION OF THE SOUNDS OF THE VOICE ; THE MECHANISM OF 

SPEECH, AND ITS BEARING UPON ETYMOLOGY. 

[Trevclyan Prize Essay.] Philadelphia : J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1860. 



In Press. 

An Educational Volume on English Affixes, their 
Origin and Use. 

PhUadelphia ; E. H. Butler & Co. 

TOURS OF A CHESS KNIGHT: 

A TREATISE ON THE MODES OF COVERING THE CHESSBOARD WITH THE 
MOVES OF THE KNIGHT. 

Philadelphia : E. H. Butler k Co. 



NOTES ON WILLSON'S READERS. 



1 would recommend an examination of this Series of Rsaders, which will do mere 
good than any formal recommendation I can give. — T. S. Ireland, Canajoharie. 

^1. When Willson's Eeaders appeared I was inclined to regard them 
with favor, and to concede them qualities which a closer examination ha3 
demonstrated that they do not possess. They give the impression that as 
education includes many studies, it would be possible to condense most of 
f hem in half a dozen reading books, and the plan seems to be as well carried 
out as the fallaciousness of the idea admits. 

2. These readers are of the usual simple character until the Third, when 
there seems to be a break in the "gradually progressive " character claimed 
for them. This volume is devoted chiefly to the Mammalia; the Fourth to 
Physiology, Ornithology, Botany, Natural Philosophy, and Miscellaneous ; 
and when the pupil has passed big words like circulation, propagation 
endogenous, exogenous, silex, concentric, diameter, etc., it is deemed neces- 
sary to define renown, drouth, glade, lawn, columns, height, adhere, russet, 
dyes, and many more equally familiar. 

3. After studying thirty pages of Chemistry in the Fifth Eeader, the 
pupil intermits for Geology and Ancient History, to resume his Chemistry 
in a diftereut book, thus rendering a reference to the former difficult, or 
encumbering him with two books for one study, for he must at least have 
the table of elements on page 423. But if the separate portions of Natural 
Philosophy, for example, were placed together, they would not constitute 
a reliable compend of the subject, nor would they make a useful book of 
home reference, independently of the want of an index, and the dilute 
verbiage thrown in to descientise it for reading matter. 

4. It would be difficult to make a series of books which should be pro- 
gressive both as readers and as scientific treatises, because, as Mr. Willson 
remarks (Preface to 5th Reader), each department of knowledge "has its 
peculiar words,"* and " forms of expression," and the more difficult sciences 
may have the less difficult words. Mr. Willson's arrangement is not 
gradual, because comparatively easy subjects like Gardening, Rhetoric, and 
Conchology, are assigned to the 7th Reader, whilst more difficult ones are 
located in earlier volumes, as Entomology, Mineralogy, and Astronomy in 
the Sixth, and Herpetology and Ichthyology in the Fifth. 

5. A person of education is likely at any time to be asked to give his 
authority for an assertion or a quotation, and the usual matter in readers 

* With which eren Mr. Willson is uuacqainted. 



4 NOTES OX WILLSOX S READERS. 

may be safely quoted and referred to Goldsmith, Thomson, or other author. 
But when a fact in science is cited from a mere compiler, it will not do to 
cite an unquotable one like Marcius Ayillson, for the doubter will ask if he 
is trustworthy ; and in general, quotations from such books would be con- 
Bidered as indicative of a neglected education. 

6. It may be said that these books pretend to be nothing more than 
compilations, and that a compiler may safely take what he finds in standard 
authorities, but this is not so. The education of a physician should give 
him facilities to prepare a school-book on physiology, and I open that of Dr. 
J. L. Comstock. As a branch of general knowledge, educational physiologj'' 
should be comparative, and the doctor makes it so. He says (1 49,) " The 
Rotifera or wheel animalcula [plural words] is one of the infusoria [infusorial] 
race, . . . Fig. 15 represents an animal of this orc^er," In "([^ 59-62 a 
freshwater bivalve shell (Unio) is described with all the glibness of an 
expert, but the confusion of terms, ideas, facts and falsities is such that the 
pupil is to be pitied who is expected to draw definite ideas from the muddled 
fancies of the author, who {% 62) gives tbe credit of these comstoekian 
mystifications to the Creator. This copyright stuff is no worse than Mr. 
Willson's, which was also deemed worthy of copyright in 1860-61. 

7. Another physician, Doctor of Laws, and Superintendent of Puhlic 
Schools, has his name conspicuously inserted as editor in the Elements of 
Zoology in Chambers' Educational Course, but without having adapted it 
to the country, or even correcting obvious errors. For example, a Doctor of 
Laws, Superintendent of Public Schools, and physician (who should be 
familiar with words like rhinoplasty) ought to know enough to avoid etymol- 
ogy* like " rin a nose, . . , kcros a horn," instead of rhiii and keras. 
On page 309 is figured a "rose-beetle," which will mislead his American 
pupils, who, on page 320, are treated to the ' information' that a species of 
Blaps is " often found in dark and dirty places about houses ;" where the 
doctor probably never saw one. The only living specimen which has come 
under my notice was one picked up in the grounds of the Baths of Caracalla 
at Eome. 

8. Mr. TVillson having learned that I had spoken of the errors of his 
Readers, requested me in 1861 to point them out " if" they really existed. 
Not being in the habit of making loose assertions, the artlessriess of the 
request amused me, and I gave him a letter on the subject ; but as the 
objectionable parts remain in the edition of 1863, the author seems to have 
as low an opinion of my emendations as I have of his science. 

9. Besides the unreliability of Mr. Willson's Readers, he excites the 
astonishment of his juvenile readers by exaggeration, like his compeer the 
Doctor of Laws, who claims for the work of 530 pages 12mo. which he edits, 
that 

" The anatomical structures, and physiological diversities of euery individual being 
included in the animal world, whether at present existing upon the earth, in the air, or 

* Compare Jlr, Willson'e etymology ni gurnard (5,232) with Webster's correct one 



NOTES ON TnLLSONS READERS. 



in the waters of the glohe, or found among the fossil remains which geology has developed 
by its researches, so far at least as the latter series admit of recognition, will be found 
described, explained, and illustrated by the ingenious and learned author." 



EXAGGEKATION. 

The Publishers have done their part nobly, and the world is under obligations to 
the author for so popularizing the sciences that even a child can understand them. — 
E. P. RoHBACK, Juniata Co., Pa. 

10. On page 61 of the First Reader, Mr. Willson uses superlatives with a 
commonplace subject, in a manner liRely to develop disrespect for ♦truth in 
his young readers, if not corrected by the Moral Lessons of the Third Reader. 
Instead of calling 'the eagle' strong and fierce, he is virtually declared to 
be stronger than the ostrich or the condor, and fiercer than any other 
pugnacious bird — " the ea-gle is the strong-est, the most fierce, and daring 
of birds," (the peregrine falcon is " uncommonly bold and powerful, . . . and 
fearless," 4, 87) and the bald-eagle (apparently) is said to build on rocks. 
"We will find this to be an appropriate commencement to his account of eagles 
in the Fourth Reader.* 

11. The swan (p. 36) "as white as snow." This trifle is alluded to, 
because the early editions of the book have a plate to teach a knowledge of 
colors, and Mr. Willson publishes color charts. He objects (2d R. p. 151) to 
a child saying red instead of scarlet, and he writes natural history, so that he 
should know that swan color {olorlnus) and snow color {niveus) are not the 
same. 

12. It is stated (4, 79) that 'the untavied eagle builds ... on some in- 
accessible cliff,' whilst (4, 85) the eyry of the golden eagle is 'generally in a 
situation 'perfectly inaccessible,' and sometimes the bald-eagle ' glides along 
in a direct horizontal line at a vast height, with expanded and unmoving 
wings,'. The principle of physics which thus negatives gravitation, should 
be given in a future volume. 

13. Of plants — 'others craxol out of the crevices of cZanZ; and loathsome 
mines,' — 'corn crops change to fetid soot;' — why not grow rather than 
crawl, damp or moist (with which it was deemed necessary to define dank ;) 
and why not his explanatory 'rank' or 'offensive to the smell' rather 
than fetid — and why fetid soot, even if this adjective is proper here? 



* The last sentence of the First Reader is — 

" Our lar-gest gold coin is the Doub-le Ea-gle, which is a Tweu-ty dol-lar piece." 

Never having studied elocution, I remark, with diffidence, in a note, that at this early 
period I would not like to have a child of mine annoyed with accentuals, as they appear ia 
the following examples: 

Which does the horse love [like"] best', hay', or oats', or corn' ? 

When I'm qui-et', when I'm rude'. 

When I'm naughty', when I'm good' ; 



NOTES ON WILLSONS EEADEK3. 



VEKBIAGE. 



One of the greatest of all faults in writing and in speaking is this ; the using of many 
■words to satj little. — Cobbett's Grammar, 181S. 

14. Instead of saying that fishes hold an important place in the scale 
of vertebrate animals, it is thus expressed (5,214) in the penny-a-line style 
(but without italics) ' Fishes ma]/ justl]/ be considered to hold an important 
place in the mighty scale of creation,'^ perhaps between Aldebaran and 
Antares. The golden eagle "is a irzi/y magnificent bird " "found through- 
out the yohole circuit of the entire glibe." Notwithstanding the apparent 
extent of this range it is doubtful whether the author includes Africa and 
South America. 

15. The child is informed (1, 40) that ' Birds as ivell as hens build nests.' 
We read (4, 55) that " those who survived lay in the silence of apoplectic 
stupor; . . . in the morning wAen ;(/tec?oo?' was o^jenec?, only twenty-three 
were found alive ;" . . . 

16. "Some are cast ashore by the waters of the sea in the shape rf 
leathery straps or thongs," (4, 172.) " It furnishes the principal materials for 
his dwellings, his ships, his wagons and carriages, and food /or the support 
of animal life." 

17. The /tYiZe prairie dogs . . . are onZy about a -foot in length," — 
why only ? how large did he expect them to be ? The powers of sight, smell- 
ing, and hearing in cats are " truly wonderful." Was nott ' wonderful ' 
strong enough ? . . . " composed of e.rceerfi?i^/y winwie tubes, which are tho 
beginnings of the nerves. These little nerve tubes are exceedingly minute ;" . 



WILLSON'S SECOND EEADER. 

This series stands head and shoulders above all others. — Hon. Isaac T. Goodnow 
Kansas, May, 1863. 

18. Here a little science is introduced, but considerably less than the 
author supposed he was giving,* and according to his manner, he sends forth 
comprehensive but inaccurate generalisations, some of which are corrected 
for the pupil as he advances to future pages. Thus the universal assertion is 
made (First R. p. 6) not that this trap, but that "A trap has teeth." This 
is corrected (p. 45) by inspection of a trap without teeth. The cod-fish (p. 4) 
and the untunable harp seem not to be explained, but the small-horned goat 

* The cut on page 22 is thus referred to on page 23. " The man has a scoop-net also. 
In which hand does he hold it ?" But the man has not a scoop-net, the supposed one being 
his fishing-rod. But supposing the text correct, the next (luestion should have been— 
' Does the line pass through a piu-hole in the sky V 



NOTES ON WIIXSON'S READERS. 7 

and the large-horned ibex are elucidated by. the ' information ' in the Second 
Reader, p. 33, that the goat has long horns. 

19. In most fishes the tail is the organ of locomotion ; but we are 
informed (p. 31) that "Fishes have fins to swim with\" 

"A whale is a large fish that swims in the sea^ ; and 

A trout is a small fish that swims in a brook'," 
"All birds can fly in the air," "Beasts live on the land." "Beasts 
feel' , but they do not thinh>." 

20. But after the child has learnt these simple lessons, he craves a moro 
nourishing pabulum and is treated to the following elaboration (p. 69.) 'A 
fish swims with its fins and tail." (But a tail without an accentual.) " The 
small wings of these birds are of no use in flight," ..." apteryx, which 
has neither wings nor tail." (4, 148.) 

21. The assertions that "A whale is a large fish" and that "Beasts 
live on the land." are thus developed in the Third Reader, p. 238. " Are not 
these monsters of the deep" (porpoises, manatees and dugongs) "fishes'? 
No^, we reply; they are much more like quadrupeds than they are like 
fishes ;" . . . 

22. "The series is believed to be vaore gj'adualli/ progressive than any 
other Readers." Second R. p. ii, of which the preceding extracts afTord fine 
examples, the amount of truth distributed from Franklin Square being so 
graduated to the child's abilities, that he will be able to graduate himself 
with the yet embryonic Sixth and Seventh steps of the Series. 

23. The plan seems intended not only to popularise the Readers, but to 
make them popular by forcing the purchaser of each volume to take the 
succeeding one, or even two, for we have just found ourselves passing not 
only from the second stage of Mr. Willson's gradually progressing intellect, 
but to the fourth. Nor is this (what Mr. W. would call) all. As the .second 
book of the gradual progression requires a prospective rectifying glance into 
the key hidden in the third and fourth, so we may perhaps find that this 
amusing game can be kept up by giving the key, but with a false attachment 
intended to send the simi^leton farther. 

24. For example. We have seen that although fishes have _/ins to 
swim with (p. 31) they swim (p. 69) with fins and tail. "We have apparently 
got the key, but with it the additional information (unnecessary at this 
stage) that "They cannot live long out of water." 

25. Prospecting towards number three, we find that fishes (instead of 
mosi fishes), brought into the open air " quickly die." The subject is then 
dropped : it does not appear in the Fourth Reader, but by persevering to 
the 234th j)age of the Fifth, we find that it is not fish, but most fish th&t 
" soon die when taken out of their native element, yet some species are 
known to make their way over land from one piece of water to another, 
and . . . the climbing perch . . . has been known to clirnb bushes 
of considerable heirrht." 



O NOTES ON ■mLLSONS READERS. 

§26. Let us be thankful for this admission, and let us not chide because 
under Lophius (5,240,^13, 14) he has not quoted from his authority, the 
Naturalist's Library, (Fishes vol. 1, p. 67) that " M. Renau has asserted 
that he knew a species of Lophius which walked about the house like a dog ; 
while the Doras cristatus . . . can march over land as fast as a man can 
leisurely walk." nor the Penny Cyclopaedia (14, 149) that the Lophiada can 
live on land for two or three days. 

27. Whilst the syllogistic "All birds can fly" (2, 31) is dislodged in 
the correction (4, 148) that " the small wings of the ostrich are of no use in 
flight," we are given the new 'information' that they serve to balance the 
body in running : and that some bustards (species ? or individuals ?) will 
take wing when closely pursued. 

28. Among 'monsters of the deep ' " manatees and dugongs " are men- 
tioned, but their habits and localities seem not to be stated, and whilst they 
are compared with 'quadrupeds,' the pupil may infer that they have four 
limbs. The Naturalist's Library (Mammalia 7, 296 and 303) which was in 
Mr. Willson's hands, states that " The Manatus is not found in deep waters" 
and that the dugong is found " in the shallows of the sea." 

29. We are told that " beasts feel, but do not think\" (2, 31.) But a 
certain fox (3, 150, ^ 6) "After considering for a short time, he seemed to 
have formed his plans." Another (3, 143) "considered his friend's hospital- 
ity a sham and himself insulted." He had a " contemptuous expression ", 
was a "mortified fox," thongh "conscious of generous intentions" to his 
disappointed companion. "•:■ 

30. Not being able to think, the fox had to consider, that is, according 
to Webster " To think seriously, maturely, or carefully ;" " to think on with 
care;" but as Mr. Willson thinks on without care, his fox seems to have the 
advantage. 

31. " Plants' , and shrubs', and trees', ... do not think', as we do.^" 
(2,31.) By speaking of ' plants and shrubs and trees' in this manner, he 
{suo more) keeps the child in ignorance of the fact that a shrub is a plant 
until the Fourth Reader is reached, for why should he have a definite idea 
in Botany at the second step, when he can get it in the ' gradually progress- 
ive ' mode at the fourth ? " Plants do not move from place to place, like 
birds and beasts\" Of course not like birds and beasts, for if certain plants 
move, it must be in some other manner — perhajis to be explained in the 7th 
or Academic Reader. 

ASTKONOMT. 

32. Astronomy being reserved for the Sixth Reader, there is but a fore- 
taste given in the Second. " Who can count the stars^ ?" No reply is given, 
but as the universal all is omitted, the question may imply those recognis- 

'■' Being ignorant of nietiipbysics, no opinion is bazardej upon the question of 
thought in brutes. 



NOTES ON TTILLSONS READERS. 9 

able by the naked eye, and these are given in the Star maps of the Society 
for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 

33. "Who can count the stars^ ? yet a star is larger than this whole 
earth on which we live ;" (why not say 'this earth' rather than this whole 
earth, <fcc.) but Venus, the most conspicuous star which the child sees, is 
smaller than the earth, and so is Mars. 

34. At times the author is extremely cautious, as when he asserts that 
some stars " appear to change their places," they only appear to do so ; 
but " those that move about among the fixed stars are called planets." Why 
the word about? unless to suggest irregularity in the motions ; and why not 
use his word appear in this place ? mentioning the planets as those stars which 
appear to move among the fixed stars, but which really move round the sun. 

35. The verbiage of " The earth on which we live," is repeated in line 
19, page 127, and we are told of some — " some who think that the fixed stars 
are suns," (his some comes in too soon,) " and that they have planets " 
(which does not suffice, for the sentence continues) "which go round them" 
(how ?) " in the same way as the earth goes round the sun." 2, 127. 

36. "The largest star which you can see " (he tells where, namely) " in 
the sky, is the planet which is called Jupiter." Jupiter, according to this, is 
larger than Sirius. " Sometimes it gives as much light as the new moon.'» 
And the neio moon eclipses the sun. 

37. Mr. Willson (2, 29) properly calls a bunch of grapes a cluster, pre- 
paring the pupil for the word in page 127, when he has to speak of clusters 
of stars. "There is a cluster of these stars- called the Great Bear ; . . .the 
Little Bear; . . . the Sxoan." We may expect to find it stated in the Sixth 
Reader that these groups are not clusters but constellations, and that groups 
like the Hyades and Pleiades are clusters. All this seems to be appreciated, 
if we may judge from a recommendation as late as January 20, 1864, which 
states that " The plan of the author is excellent, and the execution of his 
plan complete." 

WILLSON'S THIRD READER. 

The Natural Sciences and especially the departments of Animal Life, are hero pre- 
sented in a new and attractive light, divested of useless technicalities, — Cover of Third 
Reader. 

38. The Third Reader differs from the Second in presenting science 
not incidentally, but as a prominent feature. The consideration of the 
Mammalia commences on page 87, but a previous taste of the ' poetry of 
science ' is thus given on page 69 — 

Far down in the depths of the dark blue sea 
An insect train work ceaselessly ; 
Grain by grain they are building well, . . . 
Never stopping to rest or to play.* 

* See the eommonplaee zoologic versification in the 3d Render, pp. 126-129. 



10 NOTES ON WILLSON'S READERS. 

§39. What insects are these ? for the genus Halobates (a kind of oceanic 
Gerris) lives on the surface. But they are stated (p. 68) to be " coral insects," 
although fishing-worms are more of insects* than they ; and they ' work ' 
no more than other zoophytes which do not produce coral. Whilst Mr. 
Willson (5, 371) has a lesson on the coral insect, he says the term is " quite 
improper," and he calls the animal "coral-building." (5, 481.) This is 
avoiding not only " useless " technicalities, but useful ones also, such as this 
from the distinguished Professor Dana — " The coral is secreted within the 
polyp in the same manner as bones are secreted within other animals." 
May we expect to see a companion poem on the industry of the oyster ? 

40. Mr. Willson in his " gradually progressive " method, gives the 
" CLASSES INTO WHICH THE MAMMALIA ARE DIVIDED." This is beginning low 
enough with ' progressive ' science and the avoidance of " useless techni- 
calities," because there are no classes of Mammalia, this class being divided 
into orders, a term quite too technical for Mr. Willson thus far. 

41. But upon searching the Fourth Reader, we find him passing rather 
suddenly from " The various classes of birds " on page 78, to the " two great 
classes," and "five great divisions or orders," on page 81, this being the 
first error and correction we have detected in any single volume. 

42. But this departure from his "plan" is sufliciently singular to de- 
mand caution in the acceptance of it as real, and upon making an explora- 
tion into the Fifth dismal swamp of the series, we find it asserted (5, 53) that 
reptiles have been divided into " four orders or classes :" (making order and 
class identic,) and on turning the leaf (p. 54) we find the author (after leaving 
a dining-saloon) discussing " the turtle portion of the reptile kingdom," for 
which he would not be held responsible were it not that after-dinner char- 
acteristics pervade the series. On page 69, serpents are said to comprise the 
third division or order of the reptile race. 

43. If Mr. AVillson's views be adojjted, we dare not divide organic 
nature into the Animal and the Vegetable Kingdom, but (4, 171) into the 
Vegetable Kingdom, and whatever else he may arrive at. 

44. The author (3, 89) is somewhat euphemistic in defining as Mamma- 
lia ' all animals which nurse their young.' which might cause chickens 
as well as monkeys to be included. On page 91 the gorilla is properly 
located in Western Africa, whilst the western coast o{ Southern Africa is given 
to the chimpanzee. Page 106, " The long-eared bat of Carolina is quite 
similar " to the European one. Then why not state that the Plccotus auritus 
inhabits Europe and North America. 

N M E N C L A T r K E . 

. . . Scientific terms may thus become as familiar to the mere school-boy as now 
to the professor of the sciences. — William Hill, Wayneshurg, Ohio, June, 18G4. 

45. The attempt to give the scientific names to the animals figured, 
shows that the author has not only a superficial and empiric view of the 

* " Philosopher Greeley " places the clam among insects, for according to the New 
York Triliuno, "'ihe clam is a prolific insect." 



NOTES ON \nLLSON'S EEA0EES. 11 

subject (especially of the nature of genera,) but that he has been incap- 
able of making use of the proper authorities, or of distinguishing good from 
bad. 

4G. Some naturalists, as Linneus, admit few genera, others, as Cuvier, 
multiply them. But if dogs and foxes are united in the genus Cams, it is 
obvious that horses and zebras must be placed in Eqvus; or in plain English, 
if a fox is a kind of dog, a zebra is a kind of horse. 

47. Ignorant of this, and incapable of using scientific materials, Mr. 
Willson puts the hyaenas and foxes in the genus Canis with the dogs, the vari- 
ous seals in Phoca, and he makes a moose congeneric with a deer. Neverthe- 
less, so free is he from ideas of method, that he places horses in Eqvus, asses 
in Asinus, and zebras in Sippotigrif!. 

48. He puts the ground squirrel and flying squirrel (3, 231) in the 
same genus, but separates the muskrat from other rodents, "the muskrat, 
an animal which belongs to the beaver tribe," (3, 232) — but it is hard to 
guess what he means by tribe, race, order, class, &c. 

49. Similar inconsistencies occur in other places, as in the Fourth 
Reader {p. 84,) where the golden eagle and bald-eagle are separated generi- 
cally, whilst the swallow-tailed hawk and lish-hawk are made congeneric. 
See also the farrago of genera in 4, 101, compared with 4, 97.--- 

50. Being doubtful (3, 162) as to whether the raccoon is generically a 
bear or a raccoon, he makes it both, in calling it " Ursus, or Procyon lotor."'^ 
The star-nose mole (3, 180) was a similar puzzle — met in a similar manner, 
although there was no difficulty in either case. "Some writers place the 
hyrenasina class by themselves," and in making it a Cam's the author places 
himself a century behind the age, the genus Hycena having been founded in 
1756. As to the "class" alluded to, Pliny thought it changed its sex from 
year to year. In another place (3, 162) 'class' means family. 

ILLJTEKACT. 

Never write about any matter that you do not well understand. — Cobbett's Grammar, 1818. 

What is farther requsite? An intimate knowledge of the subject on which we desire 
either to Bi^eak or write. — Boyd's Khetoric, 1S55. 

51. The Seventh Reader of the series will be useful to pupils who are 
familiar with the earlier volumes, because the numerous errors of these 
afford illustrations of the rules to be expected in it, as it is to- include 
Rhetoric, Criticism, Taste, Oratory, Logic, . . . Sculpture and Painting. 

52. "We have seen an error admitted, as if to be corrected in a subse- 
quent volume, and the errors in the scientific names may be rectified in the 
crowning volume of the series, because this smatterer in the natural sciences 
has shown that he is equally an adept in the classics. 

* He does the same (5, 183) with tlie Korway spruce, which stands as ' Pinus or Abies, 
as if the author was in doubt whether to call it a spruce or a pine, and his first species 
of Pinus is an Abies. Figure 6 of this page is about the only species recognisable. 



12 



NOTES ON 'mLLSCN'S EEADERS 



53. ?As a general rule, Latin adjectives used as specific names have a 
small initial, a rule which some would extend to all specific names, as in 
the Smithsonian Report, 1861, page 401, &c., where we find the specific names 
americanus, carolinensis, sivainsoni, traillii. (See also Eaton's Botany.) Nor 
is there any genuine rule of Latin or Greek grammar which requires a capi- 
tal letter to words like evropceus, euna)~aIo<; (European.) 

54. But Mr. Willson has his own mode of using capitals, or his composi- 
tor may have been 'out of sorts,' for he has rumphii, mantelli and Pennantii ; 
Satyriis and monachus; cornuhiensis and Guianensh (both proper adjectives;) 
OTa.*;(m!(s with a little initial, and 3ragna with, a big one ; Isla7iclica a.nd pras- 
linoides (both named from islands ;) arctica and Pelagica; japonica and V-ir- 
giniana ; americana and damascena, ierrce-jiorcc (Newfoundland :) Sus Bahy- 
roiissa, Corvus corax, and Tetrao cupido (named from the fancied resemblance 
of its tufts to the wings of Cupid ;) and the " banksian ray " (5, 265), named 
after Sir Joseph Banks. Now and then a generic name takes a small initial, 
as in " acacia Arabica" (5, 162) and when the " Wild dahlia" (5, 1G4) becomes 
a "Cultivated Dahlia" (5, 165) it is honored with a capital D. 

55. Animals being higher than plants, their English names are honored 
with capital initials, as in " Big Water Lizard " (5, 72) ; whilst plants are 
dishonored with little ones, as in " Great fan palm " (5, 189), but as plants 
are poetised into literary importance, amends are made by accentualising 
their names (as in Ul'mus campes'tris), a distinction denied to animals. 

56. "a Silurian crinoidea" (a plural noun,) should have been crinoid, or 
crinoidean. Felis Himalayanus, a masculine adjective made to agree with a 
feminine noun, and Tanager rubra (4, 118) a feminine adjectiA'e made to 
agree with a masculine noun, are suggestive of an unwritten Willson's An- 
thon's Schmitz's Zumpt's Latin Grammar, sheep extra. 

57. It must not be inferred from forms like Larws fasciis, Bubo asio, 
Loxia curvirostra, and Elais guineensis, that we can follow such barbarisms 
as Mr. Willson's Pristi.s cirrau.s (5, 260) and Aquila chrysseta (4, 84), which 
last is not an adjective, as he seems to suppose. 

58. With a knowledge of Latin and Greek which should disgrace a 
Master of Arts of the Philadelphia High School,* or a Doctor of Laws of the 
University of northern Pennsylvania, he has ventured to pervert the scientif- 
ic names as they stand in the books, to such illiterate forms as the following, 
the first of which has four syllables, being derived from dsroc; an eagle. 

chrysseta for chrysaetus 

Aehenia llama " Auchenia glama Linneus 

erythorynchus " erythrorhynchus 

Ornithorhyncus " Ornithorhynchus 

clamyphorus " chlamyphorus 

Deus (5,239.) " Zeus 

moschiverus • " moschiferus 

« The official title of the graduates of the corresponding school for girls is a?«nuii, 
Instead of alumnae. 



NOTES ON \nLLSON'S READERS. 



13 



Beropha. for scrofa 

Antelope " Antilope 

giraffe " giraffa Klein, Gmelin. 

salcifolia " salicifolia 

cinnamonea " ciunamomea 

Hyemalis " hiemalis 

bysenomalis " hyaenomelas 

Syrianus " syriacus Schreher. 

59. Such errors arise among presumptuons half-educated people who 
think themselves competent to discuss subjects the very terms of which they 
pervert, in the style of a ' grammarian ' who would write ' proposition ' for 
' preposition.' It will be more curious than interesting to read what Mr. 
Willson has to say upon this subject and the next, in the part devoted to 
Criticism in his Academical Reader. 

FALSIFICATION. 

We find that reading exercises are none the less interesting to pupils because thoy 
contain the gems of Science, Morality, and true Keligion, rather than the light cbafl' of 
fictitious narrative or bombastic oration. — K. Conoveb, June 9<7!,^1863. 

I feel constrained to say that, in their high-toned moral influence, and in their 
adaptedness to instruct as well as interest, I consider them superior to any other series yet 
published. — H. Moore, Lynn, Mass. 

60. Mr. "Willson has ;svritten History, and his ability to do the subject 
justice may be judged from the fact that he has been guilty of falsifying 
Alexander Wilson's account of the bald-eagle, by iiiter2)oIating a spurious 
passage, namely, the words "as he is not a fisher himself," (4, 92.) But the 
bald-eagle belongs to the group of fishing eagles, and with wings nearly 
closed he darts headlong into the water for his prey, in the general manner 
of the fish-hawk. 

SUPERSTITION. 

61. Dr. Adam Clarke calls the account of the 'serpent' in the third chap- 
ter of Genesis 'most difficult,' and 'exceedingly obscure,' the kind of animal 
being doubtful, and perhaps not what we call a serpent. 

62. Yet Mr. Willson will not " combat prejudices which seem so natural," 
(his own italics ;) . . . " man, as if remembering this curse . . . turns 
from the reptile with disgust and horror, or seeks to eflfeet its instant destruc- 
tion." Yet I have known a child who would fearlessly thrust her hands into 
a tub of living but harmless reptiles, and take up as many as she could hold, 
simply because her father was a naturalist. But Mr. Willson, in a book with 
professedly scientific traits, quotes scripture to justify perhaps his own supersti- 
tious prejudice against snakes, but is silent as to the cause of the prejudice 
against toads.* 

=■= A bit of superstition is admitted (4,118) in the statement that the raven has beea 
celebrated as a bird of evil omen, — and with the same indifference, that allusion might bo 
made to the dove being celebrated for constancy. 



1 4 NOTES ON -WTLLSON'S READERS. 

§ 63. The article on serpents (5,68-72) is twaddle, devoid of scientific value, 
TjTit devoted mostly to " poetry and fable . . . which assuredly it is well 
to be acquainted with." (5,71.) He gives the pronunciation of tiny, devoid, 
and venom -^^ but not of cayman (5,75) Lernean (p. 70) Mirza (4, 270) 
nor the Hindoo "god Chrisna" (5,69.) "We have seen him succumb (§ 58) to 
the difficulties of Latin orthography, — is he aware that in a Sanscrit word, ch 
never have the power given to them in words from the Greek? How then 
would he have ch pronounced in this ' Chrisna' ? But why discuss it before Mr. 
■VVillson has shown that there is such a word ? or such a poem as LallaA Rookh ? 
(5,243) — for there is very little that can be accepted on his own authority. 

64. An obscure generalisation in a note makes ' marine serpents ' ' harm- 
less snakes,' much like an article in Harpers' Magazine (10,475) which asserts 
that there are ' properly no sea snakes,' that the eel has * a fiat tail,' and 
the snake ' a round one.' Yet in the same ai-ticle an account is given of a poi- 
sonous sea snake (apparently a HyJrophis) with the tail ^'flat or compressed, 
which shows that it was a native of the sea." 

65. In the Third Reader (p. 171) is an apocryphal account of a sea-bear 
'stalking about in the most insolent manner,' an animal thus described in the 
Is^aturalist's Library, Mammalia (8,256) — " The hind flippers . . . cannot 
assume the position as in standing, so that when the animal attempts to move 
forward on land, it draws its hind feet and the whole of its body behind it like 
an inert mass." How can such aia animal stalk t 

66. The scientific names of his sea-lion, (3,176) the polar bear (p. 168) 
and the foxes on page 142, are omitted. 

67. The natural history of the Third Reader closes with pages 241-2, 
and although the history of insects is postponed to the Sixth, it seems as if the 
author could not let these two pages pass without playing his usual trick. He 
says that "All the vertebrated animals have a jointed back-bone, or internal 
bony skeleton," — but why all, and or ? This however is corrected in the Fifth 
Reader (p. 66,) where he says that " the turtle is incased in a coat of bony 
armor, formed of its own skeletonl" Are the bones of the head, neck and 
limbs excluded from the skeleton ? 

68. From this the pupil may be led to believe that the outside of tortoi- 
ses is bone, except in the hawk's-bill turtle (p. 60) which " furnishes the 
valuable tortoise-shell of commerce. The upper shell of this species consists 
of thirteen plates," but we are not informed whether this " shell " of a turtle 
is its skeleton. To be sure, the author's note of admiration is better suited to 
the text as it stands. 

6Q. "/jisecis, such as flies, beetles, spiders, gras3hopf)ers, . . . Crusta- 
ceans, or . . . soft-shelled animals, such as lobsters and crabs;" Being 
his last opportunity, he puts spiders among true insects, and suppresses the 
centipedes, unless he includes them in the annelidans. The Crustacea are 
his soft-shelled animals, and he says that there are " two divisions " of mollus- 

* The pronunciation assigned to hea-ther (instead of heth-er,) breccia, cara- 
pace, and Gil Bliig, is not correct. 



NOTES ON WILLSOX'S READERS. 15 

ecus animals, "1st. The Univalves, 2cl. The Bivalves," forgetting or 
mis23lacing the cuttle-fishes or Cephalopoda, which belong to neither. 

70. The etymology of infusoria is stated to be the Latin in/undo, to 2^our in 
like water. Do these organisms pour in thus, or are they poured? "animals 
filling the earth, the air and the water, and yet . . . can not be seen by the 
naked eye." So ih.ey Jill the earth and the air? perhaps enjoying themselves 
in the sunshine with the Ephemerse, and under ground with the moles. Many 
infusoria are visible to the naked eye. ■ But as we have seen enough of 
these vagaries, we need not be anxious to see the author run his sixth and 
seventh pericula, the wonders described by Siudbad, the voyager of the Arab- 
ian Nights, being more interesting. 

WILLSON'S FOURTH READER. 

The various " Courses, " Zoology, Botany, Natural History, etc., . . . render the Series 
incomparably .superior to any others. ... If these books had been in use . . . fifty years 
ago, . . . our fathers and grandfathers would have been well-informed upon many sulyecta 
of which they died in blissful ignorance !-A. N. Lewis, lFa<«r6i«)-j, Conn., June Vlth, 1803. 

71. Mr. AVillson converts the human body into something like an Atlas or 
a Caryatid, in the following sentence, given with the author's italics — " The hu- 
man body has a frame-work which sustains the house we live in " (4,15). Such 
a metaphor is out of place in matter of a scientific character, and will not bear 
examination. In my desultory survey, this would probably have been missed, 
had not the italics drawn attention to it in the second paragraph of Ilumau 
Physiology ; and I was about to pass on without reading the chapter when my 
eye caught ^ 5, p. 16. 

72. The skull, or in Mr. Willson's verbiage, lohat is called the skull, " is 
composed of eight bony plates closely interlocked on their edges. It covers the 
top of the head, like a bowl or basin, giving support to the scalp or skin of the 
head, and the hair, and protecting from injury the brain which lies beneath 
it." From this it appears that the globular skull of eight bones (including its 
occipital floor) covers the fo^ of the head, and protects the brain beneath it. 

73. " As no heat or combustion can be produced without consuming oxy- 
gen and giving out in its place carbonic acid gas, we learn that the air of highly- 
heated rooms must be impure." (4,55, ^ 9.) No heat, no combustion without 
oxygen ? Is there neither when a lighted taper is placed in chlorine ?® Is car- 
bonic acid the result when phosphorus or iron is burned in oxygen? and how 
did "we learn" that the air in highly heated rooms is on that account imi^ure ? 

74. In ^ 10, p. 55, it is stated that ^wre charcoal consists wholly of carbon, 
as if some deep chemical idea was to be developed; but it only bears upon the 
danger of breathing the carbonic acid evolved from burning coal of any kind, 
whether that which is wholly pure, or the ordinary kind, with its mineral 
constituents. 

75. In another place (5, 416, *[ 3) charcoal need not be 'pure' to contain 

♦ Not alluded to in tlie account of chlorine 5,430. 



16 NOTES ON THLLSONS READERS. 

carbon a?one, "charcoal and the diamond, though totally unlike each other, 
are composed of carbon alone." Composed? Can an element he a compound? 
Totally unlike ? Are ice and water and steam totally unlike ? (See ^96 for ad- 
ditional matter on Chemistry.) 

76. Birds " are wisely adapted to the element in which they move.' 
(4, 77.) They are formed "with special reference to the various modes in which 
they are to gain their subsistance." These remarks belong equally to all 
animals. 

77. " The head of the bird is pointed so as easily to cleave the air ;" 
(4,77) but the head of owls is not pointed; and it is doubtful whether the 
wings of birds are used as "movable weights" to balance the body.* 

78. Can birds as unlike as figures 4 and 5 (4,101) belong to the same gen- 
us, if the horse, ass, and zebra constitute three genera? and is the cardinal red- 
bird (4, 118) of the same genus as the crossbill ? and the jay with the raven ? 
or the raven with the magpie? 

79. We are told (i, 119) that "The well-known blue jay ... is 
found only in North America." a remark that might have been made of 
other species. Figure 2, page 118, is called "English Jay" (instead of 
European jay,) and figure 5 is the "Common Goldfinch," whose European 
station is not indicated, and on page 121 reference is made to "the Ameri- 
can yellow-bird, known also as the thistle-finch or goldfinch.", but without 
scientific name or other indication that it is not the species figured — if indeed 
Mr. Willson himself was aware of the fact. Figure 5 is a very bad one, and 
figure 4 is perhaps oftener called goldfinch in this country. 

80. " Among^ the starlings are included . . . the several species of 
blackbirds." (4, 120.) European ? American ? or both ? " in Pennsylvania 
the true partridge (or ruffed grouse) is usually called a pheasant." (4, 144.) 
The rulTed grouse cannot with any propriety be called the true partridge — 
and he places what the Pennsylvanians call partridge in the genus Perdix. 
This bird is neither a Perdix (European partridge,) nor a Coturnix (quail,) 
but an Ortyx. 

81. It is difficult for the pupil to understand section 14 (page 144,) on 
doves, for he cannot distinguish the " common dove which is familiar to all," 
from the "Carolina turtle-dove" which is the 'common dove' of the 
Middle States. The "ringdove" will be taken for the well-known cream- 
colored cagebird called by this name (a species which should have been 
mentioned,) and the domestic pigeon should have been definitely indicated. 

82. "The flamingo is abundant in Africa, and in South America and 



* Mr. Wells (Science of Common Things, New York, lS64,)ps"equalIy happy in his 
generalisations, as in the following question and answer on page 27 — 

"Why do hirds stretch ont their nechs when flijing? 

" In oi-der that they" (the neclcs ? or the birds ?) " may act as a wedge, dividing the 
air and diminishing the resistance." (Rather because Mr. Wells was familiar with the 
flight of geese.) 



NOTES ON WaLLSON'S READERS. 17 

the "West India Islands, and has been seen as far north as the neighborhood 
of Philadelphia." (4, 152.) Why has he not informed the pupil whether he 
has one or more species in view here ? 

" FIRST DIVISION OF VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY, OR BOTANY." 

They are emphatically, an Excelsior Series of Readers — a series aiming at, and 
rising to, a higher state of perfection than any other with which they may be com- 
pared.— Henry W. Clarke, Newport, B. I. 

83. The divisions of botany are correctly given (4, 171) as " Ist. Organ- 
ography," " 2d. Vegetable Physiology, which treats of the functions of 
their several parts — " and ".3d. Descriptivk Botany," -but by the above 
heading, if or is connective, vegetable physiology is botany, but if it has a 
disjunctive force, botany is a branch of vegetable physiology. 

84. With English ideas of English scenery, we read (4, 180) of " an oak- 
tree, the pride of American forests," " ribs of oak that [plow the main, or, 
towering in their native woods" like "the mast of some tall admiral," 
they are enabled to withstand the tempest's shock." (Given under Vege- 
table Physiology.) Paper "consists of wooden fibre." (4,182.) 

85. " Although roots generally grow in the ground, yet some, like those 
of parasites and air-plants, grow upon other vegetables, and have no imme- 
diate connection with the soil." (4, 184.) For example, Cuscuta (' dodder ') 
is a parasite and draws nourishment from the plant to which it is attached, 
and thus indirectly from the soil ; but Tillandsia (' long moss ') is an epiphyte 
(see the word in Webs ter,)_, and not a parasite, a distinction not made by Mr. 
Willson. 

86. Dr. Lindley says of the Bromeliaeese that " They are all capable of 
existing in a dry hot air without contact with the earth ; . . . they fare sus- 
pended in the dwellings, or hung to the balustrades of the balconies ; situa- 
tions where they flower abundantly, filling the air with their fragrance." 

87. Mr. Willson (4, 185) defines Parasites as "plants that live and grow 
on other plants," which is equally applicable to air-plants. Parasite is also 
defined (5, 47) as "a sycophant, a flatterer." but not a hanger-on. 

88. The " green scum of stagnant water, the fungus growth on de- 
caying wood, the various kinds of mould . , . are vegetable productions of 
the flowerless plants." (4, 188.) Instead of being productions o? flowerless 
plants, he probably means to say that they are flowerless plants."* A green 
scum once examined by myself was made up of minute animals (infusoria,) 
and a yellow scum proved to be pine pollen scattered by a storm, but pub- 
lished as a shower of sulphur. 

89. The scouring rush is alluded to botanically on page 188, and on page 
208 the equisetum is mentioned as used for polishing wood, the scientific 
name being given at the wrong place, and without a hint that the two names 

* BoUli are mentioned (5, 207) in the plural (which the pupil cannot know,) and 
without figure or description. A lijjure of it should replace one of those on pa<'e 2oC. 



J 8 NOTEa OS WILLSOXS READERS. 

mean the same thing. He speaks of " silex or sand plants," but silex (better 
silica as used here) and sand are not synonymous. 

PHYSICS. 

Our class in Natural Philosophy is more interested in " Mr. Maynard's " clear ex- 
position and illustration of the principles of that science than in the text-book it- 
self; .... — H. F. Bassett, Walerbnry, Conn. 

Each lesson is valuable for its information, . . . — W. R. Wakeley, Southington, 
Conn. 

90. The Natural Philosophy is in dialogue, as in the Philosophy in 
Sport, and in Mrs. Marc^t's valuable work, but here the resemblance ceases, 
for there is too much of the ' natural ' and not enough of the ' philosophy ' 
in Mr. Willson's Series. Instead of " Mrs. B." we have " Mr. Maynard " 
a "model man and teacher" with a "vast fund of information " a "con- 
sistent Christian " and " a devoted student of Nature," with "enthusiasm 
for the pursuits of science." 

91. It is laid down as a principle that to stand up in a small boat in 
rough water "would increase the danger of upsetting." (4, 305.) But this 
depends upon the ability of the person to retain his balance and keep himself 
from the yielding side, for in such a case, a man is not a fixed, vertical, top- 
heavy post. 

92. " The principle that you would adopt to secure your own safety in a 
small boat " (' to keep us near the bottom of the boat as possible') " is the same 
that is followed in the arrangement of the ballast and cargo of a ship. Ballast 
is some heavy material placed low down in the hold of a vessel to give it stead- 
iness in the water." But within certain limits, the nearer the centre of gravity 
is to the bottom the more unsteady is the ship, which acts like a toy figure of 
a man attached to the flat side of a hemisphere of lead. 

93. " I have heard a person say that he could walk stravjliter by walking 
faster." (4, 306.) Try it, Mr. W., on a railway rail, and observe whether running 
will prevent you from losing your balance, and after having lost it, whether 
you can retain your place any longer in running than in walking. Nor 
is the lateral rolling in an unstable walk like that of a rolling hoop, or the 
motion of a boomerang. Mr. Willson seems to ha've been taking a lesson in 
projectiles from Mr. Wells's Science of Common Things, 1864, copyright 1857."* 

94. Archimedes " declared that if he had another earth on which to place 
his machines, he could move that which we inhabit." (4, 319.) Rather a loose 
citation by an author who threatens to inflict our youths with 'Rhetoric' and 
'Criticism,' seeing that Archimedes said — 'Give me whereon to stand and I will 

move the earth — ' 

8bq ~oo a7U) y.ai rr^v yT^v ■/.'.'>''/} aco. 

* 199. Why will a rifle send a ball more accurately than a musket or ordinary gun ? 
.... The advantage of the rifle-barrel is chiefly derived from the more accurate eon- 
tact of the ball with thu sides of its cavity. — Page 35. 



NOTES OM WILLSON'S READERS. 19 

95. Mr. Willson says in his Blipshqd indefinite style, that " if the 
screw is turned one way, it will be raised from the nut a distance equal to that 
between the turjis or threads, while if it is turned the other way it will be low- 
ored the same distance." (4, 323.) How far must it be turned to do this? 

CHEMISTKT. 
This is by no means a small matter ; but a still greater matter is, these books sow 
broadcast Among the People the seeds of knowledge. — Harper'' s Educational Pamphlet, 186-i, 
p. If. Many are the mysteries in vegetable life that we do not understand. It is, indeed^ 
all a mystery. — Willson, 4, 209. 

96. "By the little breathing holes in their leaves they take in air, which 
is composed principally of the two gases oxygen and nitrogen, and a small 
profjortion of carbonic acid." (4, 207.) Here the word air is emphasised to call 
attention to the fact that atmospheric air is taken in by the leaves of plants, not 
only its carbonic acid but also nitrogen, the great source of which, in plants, has 
been considered to be the ammonia and nitrates in the soil. (See Youmans' 
Class-book of Chemistry, 1864, p. 409, \ 1160-61.) 

WILLSON'S FIFTH READER. 

I am not accustomed to recommend school-books, and never do till I am fully satisfied 
of their superior merits ; but I can most heartily recommend these as books of very superior 
merit. — A. J. Yawter, Lafayette, Ind. 

97. The lesson on saurians has many objectionable points. Having con- 
fused class and order, Mr. Willson here (p. 64) confounds families with genera 
in saying that " The principal families are those of the alligator of our South- 
ern States, the cayman of Brazil, ... In the true crocodile the jaws are much 
more slim and pointed than in the alligator ; " but he omits to mention that in 
the gavial the jaws are much more slender than in either of them, a characteris- 
tic which his figure 2 does not exhibit. In fact, his figure 3 (with the fore foot 
behind and the hind foot before) should have been replaced with the head of 
a gavial to show the peculiarity. The " large protuberance " mentioned be- 
longs to the male. 

98. " All these animals are inhabitants of the rivers and fresh waters of 
warm countries;" — but notwithstanding the comprehensive All, they prefer 
swamps, and crocodiles enter the sea and visit adjacent islands. " They breathe 
by means of lungs," but their circulation is not mentioned. Goodrich (quoted 
on p. 65) is an unreliable authority, except perhaps for a fellow compiler like 
Willson. 

99. The Mississippi alligators are stated to be "the most fierce and vora- 
cious of the whole class;" that is, of all reptiles,, including snapping turtles and 
serpents. . . . " true reptiles, rising to the dignity of four legs," but serpents 
are 'true reptiles' without 'four legs.' 

100. "What would you think of eating such a creature? Do not be 
astonished when I tell you that, . . . its flesh is regarded as a great delicacy I " 
(5, 62-3.) Why this note of admiration, and the words 'regarded as' ? May 
not iguana flesh be a. delicacy as well as turtle or oysters ? 



20 NOTES ON WILLSONS READERS. 

flOl. In glancing over the fishes of this volume, one is struck with the 
number of European and other foreign species admitted, whilst the Ameri- 
can species are to a great extent those of the compiler's locality ; the most 
interesting species of the Mississippi and its confluents, as well as of our 
Pacific coast, being neglected, as if the Headers had been 'calculated for the 
meridian of New York.'* Here is a specimen of "Ichthyology" perhaps 
due to Mr. Willson's grandmother — " the pike ... is said never to prey upon 
the tench, which is supposed to exert his healing powers by rubbing against 
the sides of the sick or wounded." (5, 244.) This is divesting science of 
'dry details and technicalities ' (5, iv.) 

102. The next striking point is the want of the science of zoology, as in- 
dicated in generic or other characteristics. Thus there is not a single figure 
of the bill of a bird, the tooth of a mammal, or the head of a serpent to aid 
in giving definite ideas of classification ; and so far is the natural science 
from being adapted to develop thought, that, in my opinion, it will foster 
the too common habit of being content with superficial views founded upon 
the imperfect knowledge of one who has not learned ' How to Observe.' 

1C3. The Seventh volume is to be devoted in part to Taste and the fine 
arts. Yet in the First Reader, page 53, the rake is quite out of drawing ; and 
the Ionic entablature (5, 282) has a convex frieze. 

104. As the majority of people must live in humble dwellings, the 
Architecture should have been principally devoted to this class, with the 
necessary j;/ans to enable the great body of mankind to build comfortable 
homes. Figures like those on pages 290, 299, and 302 are nearly worthless, 
because the ground j^lan is suppressed. 

105. " If John had been six feet in height," (5, 321,) but such calcula- 
tions are not made from the height of the surveyor, (or navigator,) but from 
the height of his eye. 

106. Oxygen constitues " o^ie-Aa//" of the solid materials of our globe I" 
(5, 483.) (Rejecting the melted interior ?) Not to be too lavish of his admir- 
ation marks, the following sentence is without them — "quartz . . . consti- 
tutes by itself" (why by itself?) "nearly one-half of the crust of the 
earth." (5,484.) And oxygen the other half ? 



MINKKALOGY. 

"107. " Pure quartz, Avhich is crystallized silica, scratches glass with 
facility, and is next to the diamond in hardness." (5,484.) Glass varies in 
hardness, some kinds are scratchable with a knife. Quartz is not necessarily 
crystallised, and as to its being next in hardness to the diamond (it would be 
well for Mr. Willson to take an 'object lesson' on the subject, when he would 
find that) it is exceeded in hardness by corundum, sapphire, and ruby. 

* Several yankeeisms have been observed, mm, for example, as a general term for 
alcoholic liquors, and poUiwog, which I have never heard used for tadpole. 



NOTES ON WILLSONS EEADEES. 21 

§108. It will have been seen, that if these animadversions (or one-half of 
them) are well founded, the series forms a mass of scientific charlatanism pro- 
bably unparalleled in the annals of education, and the defects are of such a 
nature that to remove them the books (except by a verbal fiction) would 
cease to be Willson's Readers. 

'THE ATTACK REPELLED.' 

109. During the transcription of this article, the " Educational Pam- 
phlet" and "The Attack Repelled;" were received. The latter says . . . 
" if he is a liberal-minded man, he will be surprised that in a series of some 
fifteen hundred pages so little has been found that can even he tortured into 
the semblance of error. The whole method of the criticism resolves itself 
into finding some real or imputed error . . . and then boldly setting it forth 
as a characteristic of this whole series of books !" The admiration mark at 
the audacity of criticising such books, is part of the pamphlet. "We learn 
from the same source that the Harpers can hlush (p. 4) and for shame . . . 
" they verily make us blush for shame that the cause of education, in a city 
like Bloomington, should be committed to such guardianship." Why do 
they not blush for the same thing in New York? 

LOGIC. 

110. If the fact that a whale is not a fish "could not well he told " in 
the Second Reader, why not defer the subject until it could be properly 
stated ? " What would they think of a writer who should lay down a 
general rule, and afterward give a solitary exception to it? This is simply " 
(a harmless word) " what Mr. Willson has done, and in this he has the 
authority of" (whom? not a unit less than the comprehensive all) "all 
naturalists ;" who admit that the emu " does not come up to the strict letter 
of the definition." But their ' definition ' is not Mr. Willson's ' all birds fly 
in the air,': if he had'^said that 'birds have a pair of limbs organised for 
flight,' no objection would have been made. These criticisms have been 
published " as furnishing abundajit evidence of the unreliabilitT/ oi Willson's 
Readers ! 1" (Two notes of admiration in derision of those who believe Mr. 
Willson's Readers to be unreliable.) 

111. " Their criticism on the elephant picture on page 185 of the Third 
Reader is still more absurd ... if these men " (of Bloomington) " ever saw a 
correct drawing of the side view of an elephant .... If they will look into 
the ninth volume of Jardine's Naturalist's Library, they may find tho 
engraving from which the figure referred to in Willson's Third Reader was 
copied — originally drawn by the most celebrated English painter of ani- 
mals." One might suppose this great painter to be Landseer, but not so: 
his name is Stewart, and we will compare the original with the copy. In 
Willson the right fore-leg (which is nearer the spectator than the left) is 
thinner than the left one, although in the original the right is slightly thicker 



22 KOTES OX ■NnLLSON'S KEADEB3, 

than the left, and the number tind position of the toes differ from the original, 
giving the idea that there are more than fivt. It would have been to the 
credit of the publishers, if, instead of denying the fact, they had admitted its 
force, and stated their intention to replace the cut with a correct one.* 



ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE THIRD READER. 

For the beautiful illustrations of this part we are indebted to the same artist (Parsons) 
to whom we expressed our obligations for the admirable drawings of animals in the 
Tliird Reader. — Fourth Reader, Preface. 

112. The natural history illustrations of the Fifth Eeader are mentioned 
as " surpassing anything of the kind ever before published in this 
country ;" but in style and accuracy the cuts are not equal to those of 
Webster's Illustrated Dictionary, or of the educational geologies of Professor J. 
D. Dana. A few remarks will be made, commencing with the Third Reader. 

113. Page 104, the small bats worthless ; 106, the wing claws very bad ; 
124, a cat suggestive of a fox ; 136, the house too small ; 151, bad, compare with 
fig. 3, p. 148. 

114. Page 205, camel's head too much like a monkey's, particularly the 
eyes ; 229, fig. 7, sloth with the face of a man. 

116. Page 238, fig. 4, very bad, the pectoral fins too far bach to allow the 
body to be balanced in the water; the original in the Naturalist's Library, 
Whales pi. 5, has not been properly copied. Figure 3 (of the spermaceti whale) 
gives hardly an indication of the hump at the point where the top of the har- 
poon touches. (See the original.) 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FOURTH READER. 

The matter introduced, and the beautiful illustrations, are calculated to inspire the 
most stupid with zeal for the truth. — F. M. De Mott, Lewishurg, Ohio. 

116. Page 94, the wings are unlike ; 96, fig. 3, the lower mandible too 
thick; fig. 6, the beard seems to come from the eye; too many examples of 
Minerva's favorites, the owls. 

117. Page 108, fig. 6, is made smaller than the barn swallow, or by the 
scale ei(jht inches, whilst it is more than ihtee feet in length. Why add a decep- 
tious scale in such a case? P. 143, a hawk-bill pigeon with a fan-like crest, 
not explained in the text. 

118. Page 152, crane about as large as an ostrich ; p. 154, fig 9, 10, a grebe 
drawn to a scale, and yet as large as a loon, the former according to Rees (vol. 
9) being twenty-three inches long, and the latter about three feet. 

* According to the Preface of the Third Reader "Charles Parsons, Esq.," is to have 
the credit of the natural history illustrations, but when an error is found, an attempt Is 
made adroitly to shift the responsibility, as a pellet is sometimes shifted from one thimble 
to another. 



NOTES ON WILLSON'3 READERS. 23 

§119. Page 320, fig. 31, the roller would be thrown from its supports lu 
unwinding, were it not locked by the lower left hand spoke being inserted into 
the upright support. Parallel with this spoke is a brace which ought to have 
been framed into the uprijcht. 

120. In figure 32 (p. 320) a windlas is used to draw up a bucket about as 
large as a i)int measure. In figure 34, the slope of the inclined plane is too 
steep. 

121. The impossible screw (fig. 39, page 323,) is out of drawing, the point 
of view is mistaken, and the inclination and curve of the thread are wrong. In 
fig. 40 there are really two threads, and although the view is from above, the 
threads are not curved, as they are in the front view of the upper figure. 

122. It is pleasant to turn from the figures criticised to others which are 
worthy of high commendation for their beauty and execution, as those on 
pages 161, 168, 242, 245 of the Fourth Reader, and 309, 401, 408 of the Fifth. 

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE FIFTH KEADEK. 

123. In the Fifth Reader page 61, fig. 1, why is the left hind-leg cut off? 
Figures 2, 3, 7, are unrecognisable ; fig. 8, chameleon's feet wrong. Page 170, 
figures 9 and 10 are unrecognisable, and the leaves of the Kalmia angustifoUa 
are made wider than those of the latifolia, as if the species had been eon- 
fused. "Hippocampus Hudsonius" (5,258) is not this species but H. brevi- 
rostris Tarrell, 2,346. The queer figure 3, (5,255) is represented differently in 
Yarrell. Figure 5 (5,468) is more like a bird than a reptile. Most of the fig- 
ures on page 469 are bad. 

CONCLUSION. 

As to that important consideration — the moral character of our school-books — we 
would say that these Readers are not only of a high moral tone, but of decidedly Christian 
influences ; — Ballimore Christian Advocate. ... no pains have been spared to give all 
the Readers not only a moral, but a Christian influence. — M. Willsojj, Pre/ace to Third 
Reader. 

124. Being an occasional reader of certain pretendedly scientific but un- 
reliable articles in the Harper Magazine, I am disjiosed to relieve Mr. Willsou 
of much of the responsibility of his books, his shortcomings being rather those 
of the establishment to which he belongs, and of which a single illustration 
"will be given. 

125. In the Magazine for September 18C4, page 543, may be found a se- 
ries of literary contortions suggestive of the writhings of an eel transfixt on a, 
gig, and endeavoring to use his lubricity to effect an escape from his critical 

i position, the spectators meanwhile derisively smiling. 
126. The editor's art criticisms had been termed shallow, and he com- 
pares them to " transient little blossoms " which he is weaving into " the 
prettiest chaplet " to give a " momentary pleasure " every month. He 
"reads a book" or "sees a picture," and tells what he thinks of it, as Mr. 
Willson (§ 107) tell3 what he thinks of the hardness of quartz. " The opi- 



24 KOTES ON WILLSON'S READERS. 

nions are -very likely poor enough, and the impressions shallow ; but shall all 
conversation stop because it is not profound or wise ?" The poor man is not 
asked to restrain his loquacity, but to let it be truthful, and to have principles 
k little higher than Tvjcnty-Jive cents a Ntiviher, even if he should have to 
avoid an asininity like his ' Oxi/cocus verburnum' of the Magazine for April, 
1860, p. 589. 

127. His morality justifies him in'issuing opinions " however shallow," 
even if " some poor fellow's boy must go without a quarter's schooling in 
consequence." The indecent advertisements in Harpers' Weekly form a 
fitting illustration of American publishers' morality, as compared with a first- 
class journal like the Illustrated London News. 

128. But let us turn from this rubbish to an opinion of a difiFerent char- 
acter, which is worthy of the attention of those who honestly but thought- 
lessly recommend such literary Jayne's hair expectorants and Ayer's pecto- 
ral cathartics.* 

129. " In France, the first consideration for us is not whether wo are 
amused and pleased by a work of art or mind, nor is it whether we are touched 
by it, what we seek above all to learn is, whether we were right in being 
amused with it, and in applauding it, and in being moved by it."-^Sainie 
Beuve, quoted by Matthew Arnold in the Cornhill Magazine, and in the Living 
Age, Sept. 17, 1864. Farther on in the same article (p. 665) Mr. Arnold says — 

130. "Some people will say these are little things; they are not; they 
are of bad example. They tend to spread the baneful notion that there is no 
such thing as a high, correct standard in intellectual matters; that every 
one may take his own way ; they are at variance with the severe discipline 
necessary for all real culture ;" 

Columbia, Pennsylvania, 1st Oct., 1864, 



* 'Exety family in the land should have them." — H. Glasiek, Sup't Graded School, 
Sextonville. — The Attack Eepelled, page 15. 

See among others, the number of Harper's Weekly for March 9, 1861, page 159, 
and compare the publishers' claims "as lovers of our race and friends of humanity 

and religion" — STaj. 1860, p. 843. "It is in the interest of every such paper 

[as the Weekly] to respect the public sense of propriety." — WeeHy, May 1-i, 1859, p. 307. 

The harperian idea of undouhled science may be judged from the statement in the 
Magazine (June, 1854, p. 136,) that the reverend (subsequently 'doctor') John Bovee 
Dods, author of "Spirit Manifestations," and concoctorof " Imperial Wine Bitters," "is 
undoubtedly a man of scientific research." 



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